Correlations among global photometric properties of disk galaxies

Using a two-dimensional galaxy image decomposition technique, we extract global bulge and disk parameters for a complete sample of early type disk galaxies in the near infrared K band. We find significant correlation of the bulge parameter n with the central bulge surface brightness $\mu_b(0)$ and with effective radius r_e. Using bivar iate analysis techniques, we find that $\log n$, $\log r_e$ and $\mu_b(0)$ are distributed in a plane with small scatter. We do not find a strong correlation of n with bulge-to-disk luminosity ratio, contrary to earlier reports. r_e and the disk scale length r_d are well correlated for these early type disk galaxies, but with large scatter. We examine the implications of our results to various bulge formation scenarios in disk galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX including 14 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Structural and Photometric Classification of Galaxies - I. Calibration Based on a Nearby Galaxy Sample

In this paper we define an observationally robust, multi-parameter space for the classification of nearby and distant galaxies. The parameters include luminosity, color, and the image-structure parameters: size, image concentration, asymmetry, and surface brightness. Based on an initial calibration of this parameter space using the ``normal'' Hubble-types surveyed by Frei et al. (1996), we find that only a subset of the parameters provide useful classification boundaries for this sample. Interestingly, this subset does not include distance-dependent scale parameters, such as size or luminosity. The essential ingredient is the combination of a spectral index (e.g., color) with parameters of image structure and scale: concentration, asymmetry, and surface-brightness. We refer to the image structure parameters (concentration and asymmetry) as indices of ``form.'' We define a preliminary classification based on spectral index, form, and surface-brightness (a scale) that successfully separates normal galaxies into three classes. We intentionally identify these classes with the familiar labels of Early, Intermediate, and Late. This classification, or others based on the above four parameters can be used reliably to define comparable samples over a broad range in redshift. The size and luminosity distribution of such samples will not be biased by this selection process except through astrophysical correlations between spectral index, form, and surface-brightness.Comment: to appear in AJ (June, 2000); 34 pages including 4 tables and 12 figure

Einstein Cluster Alignments Revisited

We have examined whether the major axes of rich galaxy clusters tend to point toward their nearest neighboring cluster. We have used the data of Ulmer, McMillan, and Kowalski, who used position angles based on X-ray morphology. We also studied a subset of this sample with updated positions and distances from the MX Northern Abell Cluster Survey (for rich clusters ($R \geq 1$) with well known redshifts). A Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test showed no significant signal for nonrandom angles on any scale $\leq 100h^{-1}$Mpc. However, refining the null hypothesis with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, we found a high confidence signal for alignment. Confidence levels increase to a high of 99.997% as only near neighbors which are very close are considered. We conclude there is a strong alignment signal in the data, consistent with gravitational instability acting on Gaussian perturbations.Comment: Minor revisions. To be published in Ap

Internal Dynamics, Structure and Formation of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: II. Rotating Versus Non-Rotating Dwarfs

We present spatially-resolved internal kinematics and stellar chemical abundances for a sample of dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies in the Virgo Cluster observed with Keck/ESI. We find that 4 out of 17 dEs have major axis rotation velocities consistent with rotational flattening, while the remaining dEs have no detectable major axis rotation. Despite this difference in internal kinematics, rotating and non-rotating dEs are remarkably similar in terms of their position in the Fundamental Plane, morphological structure, stellar populations, and local environment. We present evidence for faint underlying disks and/or weak substructure in a fraction of both rotating and non-rotating dEs, but a comparable number of counter-examples exist for both types which show no evidence of such structure. Absorption-line strengths were determined based on the Lick/IDS system (Hbeta, Mgb, Fe5270, Fe5335) for the central region of each galaxy. We find no difference in the line-strength indices, and hence stellar populations, between rotating and non-rotating dE galaxies. The best-fitting mean age and metallicity for our 17 dE sample are 5 Gyr and Fe/H = -0.3 dex, respectively, with rms spreads of 3 Gyr and 0.1 dex. The majority of dEs are consistent with solar alpha/Fe abundance ratios. By contrast, the stellar populations of classical elliptical galaxies are, on average, older, more metal rich, and alpha-enhanced relative to our dE sample. The local environments of both dEs types appear to be diverse in terms of their proximity to larger galaxies in real or velocity space within the Virgo Cluster. Thus, rotating and non-rotating dEs are remarkably similar in terms of their structure, stellar content, and local environments, presenting a significant challenge to theoretical models of their formation. (abridged)Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures. To appear in the October 2003 Astronomical Journal. See http://www.ucolick.org/~mgeha/geha_dE.ps.gz for version with high resolution figure

Superclustering at Redshift Z=0.54

We present strong evidence for the existence of a supercluster at a redshift of z=0.54 in the direction of Selected Area 68. From the distribution of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts we find that there is a large over-density of galaxies (a factor of four over the number expected in an unclustered universe) within the redshift range 0.530 < z < 0.555. By considering the spatial distribution of galaxies within this redshift range (using spectroscopic and photometric redshifts) we show that the galaxies in SA68 form a linear structure passing from the South-West of the survey field through to the North-East (with a position angle of approximately 35 deg East of North). This position angle is coincident with the positions of the X-ray clusters CL0016+16, RX J0018.3+1618 and a new X-ray cluster, RX J0018.8+1602, centered near the radio source 54W084. All three of these sources are at a redshift of approximately z=0.54 and have position angles, derived from their X-ray photon distributions, consistent with that measured for the supercluster. Assuming a redshift of 0.54 for the distribution of galaxies and a FWHM dispersion in redshift of 0.020 this represents a coherent structure with a radial extent of 31 Mpc, transverse dimension of 12 Mpc, and a thickness of approximately 4 Mpc. The detection of this possible supercluster demonstrates the power of using X-ray observations, combined with multicolor observations, to map the large scale distribution of galaxies at intermediate redshifts.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Latex, aaspp4.sty, accepted for publication in Ap J Letters. Figure 3 and followup observations can be found at http://tarkus.pha.jhu.edu/~ajc/papers/supercluster

A re-assessment of the nearest neighbour alignment of the X-ray isophotes of galaxy clusters

Alignment is defined as the tendency of the distribution of pointing angles between the major axes of clusters and their nearest neighbours to be more concentrated towards small values for small nearest neighbour distances, whereas the distribution is expected to be uniform over all angles at larger distances. Conflicting pronouncements on the reality of this effect have been published in the astronomy literature. A re-assessment of the evidence for alignment is presented, based on three recently published X-ray data sets. We find that whereas there is evidence for alignment, it is not as convincing as previously claimed. In particular, the scale to which the effect has been claimed to extend seems to have been severely overstated

N-body simulations of galaxies and groups of galaxies with the Marseille GRAPE systems

I review the Marseille GRAPE systems and the N-body simulations done with them. I first describe briefly the available hardware and software, their possibilities and their limitations. I then describe work done on interacting galaxies and groups of galaxies. This includes simulations of the formation of ring galaxies, simulations of bar destruction by massive compact satellites, of merging in compact groups and of the formation of brightest members in clusters of galaxies.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to be published in "Non-linear Dynamics and Chaos in Astrophysics", eds. J.R. Buchler, S. Gottesman, J. Hunter and H. Kandrup, Annals of the New York Academy of Science

Internal Dynamics, Structure and Formation of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: I. A Keck/HST Study of Six Virgo Cluster Dwarfs

Keck/ESI spectroscopy is presented for six Virgo Cluster dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies. The mean line-of-sight velocity and velocity dispersion are resolved as a function of radius along the major axis of each galaxy, nearly doubling the total number of dEs with spatially-resolved stellar kinematics. None of the observed objects shows evidence of strong rotation: upper limits on v_rot/sigma are well below those expected for rotationally-flattened objects. Such limits place strong constraints on dE galaxy formation models. Although these galaxies continue the trend of low rotation velocities observed in Local Group dEs, they are in contrast to recent observations of large rotation velocities in slightly brighter cluster dEs. Using WFPC2 surface photometry and spherically-symmetric dynamical models, we determine global mass-to-light ratios 3 < M/L_V < 6. These ratios are comparable to those expected for an intermediate-age stellar population and are broadly consistent with the (V-I) colors of the galaxies. This implies that these dEs do not have a significant dark matter component inside an effective radius. Central black holes more massive than 10^7 M_sun can be ruled out. For the 5 nucleated dEs in our sample, we determine kinematic and photometric properties for the central nucleus separately from the underlying host dE galaxy. These nuclei are as bright or brighter than the most luminous Galactic globular clusters and lie near the region of Fundamental Plane space occupied by globular clusters. In this space, the Virgo dE galaxies lie in the same general region as Local Group and other nearby dEs, although non-rotating dEs appear to have a slightly higher mean mass and mass-to-light ratio than their rotating counterparts.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures. Accepted in the Astronomical Journa

Tests of Statistical Methods for Estimating Galaxy Luminosity Function and Applications to the Hubble Deep Field

We studied the statistical methods for the estimation of the luminosity function (LF) of galaxies. We focused on four nonparametric estimators: $1/V_{\rm max}$ estimator, maximum-likelihood estimator of Efstathiou et al. (1988), Cho{\l}oniewski's estimator, and improved Lynden-Bell's estimator. The performance of the $1/V_{\rm max}$ estimator has been recently questioned, especially for the faint-end estimation of the LF. We improved these estimators for the studies of the distant Universe, and examined their performances for various classes of functional forms by Monte Carlo simulations. We also applied these estimation methods to the mock 2dF redshift survey catalog prepared by Cole et al. (1998). We found that $1/V_{\rm max}$ estimator yields a completely unbiased result if there is no inhomogeneity, but is not robust against clusters or voids. This is consistent with the well-known results, and we did not confirm the bias trend of $1/V_{\rm max}$ estimator claimed by Willmer (1997) in the case of homogeneous sample. We also found that the other three maximum-likelihood type estimators are quite robust and give consistent results with each other. In practice we recommend Cho{\l}oniewski's estimator for two reasons: 1. it simultaneously provides the shape and normalization of the LF; 2. it is the fastest among these four estimators, because of the algorithmic simplicity. Then, we analyzed the photometric redshift data of the Hubble Deep Field prepared by Fern\'{a}ndez-Soto et al. (1999) using the above four methods. We also derived luminosity density $\rho_{\rm L}$ at $B$- and $I$-band. Our $B$-band estimation is roughly consistent with that of Sawicki, Lin, & Yee (1997), but a few times lower at $2.0 < z < 3.0$. The evolution of $\rho_{\rm L}(I)$ is found to be less prominent.Comment: To appear in ApJS July 2000 issue. 36 page

Photometric Properties of Void Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 Data Release

Using the sample presented in Pan:2011, we analyse the photometric properties of 88,794 void galaxies and compare them to galaxies in higher density environments with the same absolute magnitude distribution. In Pan et al. (2011), we found a total of 1054 dynamically distinct voids in the SDSS with radius larger than 10h^-1 Mpc. The voids are underdense, with delta rho/rho < -0.9 in their centers. Here we study the photometric properties of these void galaxies. We look at the u - r colours as an indication of star formation activity and the inverse concentration index as an indication of galaxy type. We find that void galaxies are statistically bluer than galaxies found in higher density environments with the same magnitude distribution. We examine the colours of the galaxies as a function of magnitude, and we fit each colour distribution with a double-Gaussian model for the red and blue subpopulations. As we move from bright to dwarf galaxies, the population of red galaxies steadily decreases and the fraction of blue galaxies increases in both voids and walls, however the fraction of blue galaxies in the voids is always higher and bluer than in the walls. We also split the void and wall galaxies into samples depending on galaxy type. We find that late type void galaxies are bluer than late type wall galaxies and the same holds for early galaxies. We also find that early type, dwarf void galaxies are blue in colour. We also study the properties of void galaxies as a function of their distance from the center of the void. We find very little variation in the properties, such as magnitude, colour and type, of void galaxies as a function of their location in the void. The only exception is that the dwarf void galaxies may live closer to the center. The centers of voids have very similar density contrast and hence all void galaxies live in very similar density environments (ABRIDGED)Comment: 10 pages, 25 figure